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August 24, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Mar 15, 2012

Reason to skip judo class

Martial arts will become a required subject for both boys and girls in junior high school from April. Schools can choose the type of a martial art they teach. Many schools are expected to choose judo because other martial arts such as kendo and sumo require special equipment or facilities.

EDITORIALS

Mar 15, 2012

Disposing of disaster debris

One year since the 3/11 disasters, the devastated areas face many difficult problems. One big problem is how to dispose of the large amounts of debris that the massive earthquake and tsunami left.

EDITORIALS

Mar 14, 2012

Loss of bonds a growing problem

A series of incidents in which people who had received no help from others citizens or local governments and apparently died alone raises concerns that human ties in Japanese society are growing increasingly thin and that the nation's social safety net has serious holes.

EDITORIALS

Mar 14, 2012

Ease loan burdens in disaster area

Enterprises and individuals in the areas devastated by the 3/11 disasters are saddled with loans and are facing great difficulty in restarting their business and rebuilding homes. On March 5, the doors opened at a government organization that was established to help small-scale enterprises, self-employed...

EDITORIALS

Mar 13, 2012

Volunteers still very much in need

Areas hit by the 3/11 disasters are suffering from a shortage of volunteer workers. Reconstruction is entering a critical phase and the whole nation must make an effort to lend a helping hand so that those whose lives have been upended by the disasters do not feel that they have been forgotten.

EDITORIALS

Mar 13, 2012

Put the political maneuvering aside

The Lower House on Thursday passed the ¥90.333 trillion fiscal 2012 budget with the support of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partner, the People's New Party. But Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda cannot be optimistic about upcoming Diet business and must overcome several hurdles....

EDITORIALS

Mar 12, 2012

Loosening up on animal cafes

Every country has its own cafe culture, but Japan's may be the most regulated in the world. Recently, cat, dog, rabbit and bird cafes, where customers can sip a cup of tea or coffee while watching, photographing or playing with animals, have caught the attention of authorities.

EDITORIALS

Mar 11, 2012

Moving forward with reconstruction

A year has passed since the massive earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on the Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, and many survivors continue to suffer from their devastating effects. The impact of the natural disasters was compounded by the subsequent nuclear crisis that...

EDITORIALS

Mar 10, 2012

More worries about Afghanistan

Any doubts about Afghanistan's fragility have been put to rest in recent weeks. Reports that copies of the Quran were inadvertently burned at a coalition military base unleashed a spasm of violence, ranging from mass demonstrations to murder. It has torn apart already strained relations between Afghans...

EDITORIALS

Mar 9, 2012

Selling Japan's food and tourism

Following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and the subsequent nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan's manufacturing sector suffered greatly due to the damage caused to the nation's supply chains.

EDITORIALS

Mar 9, 2012

The pay-cut bandwagon

Wage cuts for national public servants under a special law recently enacted will have repercussions in various areas. The law, jointly written by lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, was enacted by the Upper House on Feb. 29. The wages will be cut by an...

EDITORIALS

Mar 8, 2012

The real 'China threat'

Considerable attention has been devoted to the threat seemingly posed by the growth of China's power and influence. It seems like every week the country is marking some new "first" in its military modernization program, all of which are said to be underwritten by a desire to become the pre-eminent power...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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